text: Carbine - definition of carbine by The Free Dictionary Carbine - definition of carbine by The Free Dictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/carbine n. A lightweight rifle with a short barrel. [French carabine, from Old French carabin, soldier armed with a musket, perhaps from escarrabin, gravedigger, from scarabee, dung beetle; see scarab.] carbine n 1. (Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery) a light automatic or semiautomatic rifle of limited range 2. (Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery) Also called: carabin or carabine a light short-barrelled shoulder rifle formerly used by cavalry [C17: from French carabine, from Old French carabin carabineer, perhaps variant of escarrabin one who prepares corpses for burial, from scarabée, from Latin scarabaeus scarab] car•bine 1. a light, gas-operated semiautomatic rifle. 2. any of various short-barreled muskets or rifles used, orig. by cavalry troops, since c1600. [1595–1605; < Middle French carabine] ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: 1. carbine - light automatic rifle     rifle - a shoulder firearm with a long barrel and a rifled bore; "he lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired" Translations Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us , add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content . Link to this page: sniperscope References in classic literature ? She played with his long hair, and admired his big hands and his clothes and his carbine, and asked question after question, as fast as he could answer, until I excused them both for half an hour, in order to have a chance to finish my work. View in context See here, you son of an imported Malaga jackass," he said between his teeth, "I'd have you know that I'm related on my mother's side to Carbine, winner of the Melbourne Cup, and where I come from we aren't accustomed to being ridden over roughshod by any parrot-mouthed, pig-headed mule in a pop-gun pea-shooter battery. View in context Finally I could endure the suspense no longer, and, arming myself with my two Colt revolvers and a carbine, I strapped two belts of cartridges about me and catching my saddle horse, started down the trail taken by Powell in the morning.